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Calvin Breckinridge
Introduction Background Personality and Appearance Calvin is a young man who takes himself very seriously. He is self-centered and focuses only on achieving his goals. He prefers to take problems head on even if going around them is the easier option. His loyalties are intense, often forcing him into altercations over the smallest slight. Currently this loyalty extends only to his family, but anyone who gains his trust would find him their staunchest defender. Cal is very proud of the legacy of the Breckenridge family and is not shy about voicing this pride to anyone within listening distance. His extreme self-confidence leads to him being hard headed and reckless. He prefers to spend as much of his free time as possible in his forge or designing runescripts. He is possessed of a deep rooted loathing for traditional spellcasters. While many in his family has less than stellar opinions of their arcane cousins due to their somewhat haughty natures, Calvin takes it a few steps further. Due mostly to his immense famililial pride, he is insulted by the relative ease at which spellcasters can grow in power and ability. He grows more competitive and hostile when in the prescence of such folk, which is generally a headache given how competitive and hostile he normally is. Cal has a medium build muscled by years working metal. His typical clothing consists of jeans and plain t-shirts along with black leather steel toed boots. If the social situation calls to be dressed up, his clothing choices tend to be ostentatious. He carries a notebook in his back pocket full of various arcane diagrams and designs. When in the middle of a major project he will look haggard from lack of sleep. It gets in the way of progress, after all. Powers and Abilities The Breckenridge are a family of magicians who cannot cast spells, their talent lies completely in the creation of magical items. Though Calvin is more or less a normal human, his artifacts grant him several abilities. Kaempfer: An Italian heavy mace forged from cold iron. The mace increases his strength and is designed to hit like a train. Though cold iron is hard to enchant, it's durability makes it invaluable in creating weapons. It is also the traditional metal used to battle other mages. Rundschild: A pair of silver vambraces shined to a mirror sheen. These allow Calvin to create a force field around himself.Calvin can use the field as a shield for himself and those in very close proximity or to create a barrier, but only one or the other at a time. Cal plans to create additional pieces to this set in order to add to it's strength and efficiency, ultimately culminating in a full suit of armor. Flucht: This large blue cloak made from the fur of a displacer beast hooks around the neck with two gold chains. It allows it's bearer to teleport short distances and with a ritual allows for longer ports to fixed locations. Of the three pieces Cal wields, this is the only one he didn't create himself. It was woven by his father years ago when he was on his own journey. The cloak is still large on Calvin, he's told he'll grow into it. Weaknesses Adventures Alternate Universes Breckenridge Trading Consortium Founded in 1689 by Pietro Breckenridge, the BTC has become North America's largest supplier of high quality artifacts. The company is owned and managed strictly by blood relatives of it's founder. By keeping the business exclusively within the family, on the job training can (and often does) begin at very early ages. This creates a talented and most importantly, loyal, workforce. The BTC has managed to keep the major European dealers out of it's markets through it's long history with the businesses of the New World. These long standing relationships combined with their comparatively low prices have granted the company the prosperity it knows today.. The Old World dealers are gaining ground, however, globalization efforts chipping away at the foundations of the BTC. The BTC has stores in every major city in North America, and many in smaller, wealthier areas. While an individual city may have several storefronts spread throughout it, each enchanted door opens to the same shop. This policy saves large amounts on property costs and the need to hire additional labour. Each store is manned by one or more Meisters of differing specialties and their Journeymen and Apprentices. The store usually serves additional duties as housing for the younger members and as a workshop for the creation of the artifacts to be sold. In addition to the items made in-shop, all but the largest stores barter amongst each other to carry the widest variety of artifacts possible. The BTC also maintains several departments concentrating on the acquisition of the many resources required for their works. From the pelt of a Displacer Beast or nugget of Truesilver, the company prides itself from creating the highest quality artifacts from the highest quality material. The hierarchy of the BTC is very rigid, but simple. At the bottom of the pyramid are the Apprentices. These are the youth of the family, constantly training their minds and bodies in order to one day craft items worthy of being sold in their parent's shops. Each Apprentice decides for themselves on their first day of labour what their specialty will be: Masonry, Tanning, Weaving, Metalworking, Alchemy, or Carpentry. They will concentrate exclusively on the crafts of that specialty for nearly the rest of their careers, only the eldest and most talented members ever get around to learning another. Next are the Journeymen. Once an Apprentice's work is of suitable craftsmanship to be sold, he is promoted to the grade of Journeyman. The Journeyman is the workhorse of his shop, responsible both for creating artifacts for sale, but also for aiding the Meister in his research and crafts. It is not uncommon for a Journeyman to work in several shops in his career, learning what he can from one tutor before finding another. Many finish their lives without leaving this stage of development, advancement further is based on being more talented than your peers and in a family like this competition is fierce. The highest rank currently attainable is Meister. When a Journeyman believes themselves to be ready, they set about creating their Thesis, an artifact of particular power or creativity. This item often takes years or in some rare cases, decades, to produce. When a new store is opened or an elder Meister dies, The Vulcan himself chooses the new Meister based on the Thesis' of the applicants. Upon being chosen, the Thesis is places into the family vault for historical purposes and a ceremony is held to welcome the new Meister into the fold. The ceremony involves the receiving of a signet ring displaying the crest of the family from The Vulcan and the kissing of his. While the title of Vulcan is highest in the pyramid, no man has ever held it aside from Pietro Breckenridge, and if the family has their way no one else ever will. Though loyalty ranges from the fanatical to the grudging, his descendants all agree that they owe their prosperity and marketshare in large part to his leadership. The Vulcan presides over most major deals and occassionaly produces an artifact of his own creation to the customers who can afford the considerable price. The Vulcan has long mastered every specialty, his books are the foundation of every young Breckenridge's training. Notes Trivia Category:Alpha Category:Characters